Serena Williams ties a win record at Australian Open

Updated 10:55 pm, Tuesday, January 14, 2014

MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams matched one of Margaret Court's records at the Australian Open on Wednesday as she advanced to the third round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Vesna Dolonc.

Williams improved her record to 60-8 at Melbourne Park, equaling Court's 60 match wins in the open era at the Australian championship.

Court, who won seven of her 11 Australian titles before the open era began in 1968, has a show court named in her honor adjacent to Rod Laver Arena.

Williams walked into the stadium wearing a fitted pink blazer, despite the heat, which topped 104 degrees during the 63-minute match.

Williams fended off the only break point she faced against the No. 104-ranked Dolonc with an ace in the sixth game of the second set.

Despite having trouble at times on her ball toss when she was looking into the sun, the 17-time major winner fired 10 aces, won 85 percent of the points when she got her first serve in and hit 24 winners as she extended her winning streak to 24 matches.

"I just try to hit a bunch of aces and a bunch of winners - that's all you can do because it's too hot to get into long rallies," she said.

Novak Djokovic stayed on track for a fourth consecutive men's title with a 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 win over Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. Djokovic had a brief scare when he turned over on his left ankle in the first set and tumbled to the court. But he continued without medical attention.

No. 4 women's seed Li Na raced through the first set against 16-year-old Belinda Bencic in 22 minutes, conceding just 10 points. She had to work harder in the second before winning 6-0, 7-6 (5).

Temperatures topped 108 on Tuesday, and there were a total of nine retirements in the first round, equaling a Grand Slam record. The forecast is for the heat wave to continue until Friday, with daily maximums above 104.

The players are finding ways to cope, using ice vests and wet towels in the changeovers. No. 15 seed Sabine Lisicki and Monica Niculescu were allowed a 10-minute heat break after their second set before Niculescu won 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.